


A Little Faith

by BeautifulDistraction



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: An angsty ending, Angst, Dramatic Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, More angst, So much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulDistraction/pseuds/BeautifulDistraction
Summary: Nikolai and Zoya argue about what to do now that The Darkling has taken over parts of Ravka.





	A Little Faith

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is like a part 2 to a fic I never wrote lol. 
> 
> Things to assume happened in the non existent part 1: 
> 
> \- They won the war against Fjerda  
> \- Right after they won, The Darkling launched a brutal attack on Ravka, and has basically won because they were weakened from the war  
> \- They all had a final huge battle in the palace where Zoya lost her amplifier  
> \- Aaaannd now a bunch of them are hiding out in a cave not far from where The Darkling is causing havoc. It's looking bleak.

The downward spiral of events after things begin to slip sideways had always intrigued Nikolai. It was almost prophetic in the way that he seemed to invite new disasters in an attempt to disarm current troubles.

He wondered from time to time if he was the catalyst provoking outright catastrophe. What could he have done differently? Had he been too arrogant to not seek counsel, to clutch his secrets and plans possessively within his grotesque black claws?

Yet somehow, miraculously, he was always saved by those better than him. Not for him, no, but for the love of a tattered country that deserved more than any of them alone could give. A debt he could never repay, carried always on his heavy shoulders.

This time the sacrifice was too high.

"No!" Nikolai spat the word out, horrified, and furious. "Absolutely not. I know you have more sense than this! Your exhaustion is clouding your thinking."

Zoya scratched crystals of dried blood from her brow, tearing open a small wound in the process. She didn't seem to notice it as she bristled at his words. Just another wound on her aching, bruised form.

"Nikolai, there is no choice. I am the only one who can face the Darkling now." She exhaled a long breath of air. "Do you understand, princeling? There is no one else!"

Overhead, chunks of grey, jagged rocks breaking from above battered the feeble entrance of the cavern they were sheltered within. Part of Nikolai hoped it would seal them in for a while. The lesser worry of immediate survival would be a welcome respite from the worries of trying to win a long war.

"And what is the point of facing him, just to die moments later? You are not ready, Zoya-"

"Ready or not!" She muttered with a bitter laugh.

"- not ready, and have only half of what power Juris promised you," Nikolai bit out the harsh words, "And he is gone now."

"He's not gone," she snapped. "The amplifier did not break when it fell. I need only to find it."

Genya, slumped against a wall of roughly hewn rock, gasped in pain, drawing all eyes in her direction. Alongside her, amongst the handful of Ravkans they had managed to evacuate, Nina pushed herself up slowly. Her eyes held a fear that felt contagious as she stared blankly at the growing stain on Genya's chest.

"We need to fight now, my king, before he secures his hold," Nina's voice swept soullessly through the gloomy enclosure. "The Darkling has taken the heart of Ravka, your palace. So many of us are gone. If we could only take him down, dead or incapacitated, maybe... and Zoya... she's... there are no oth-"

"Enough," he cut in firmly, yet gently. Nina looked down, tears now falling unchecked. "Tend to Genya, Nina. Her wound is not deep."

He couldn't hear another word. He couldn't have failed. Everything they - he - had achieved could not have been for nothing. He closed his eyes, fisting them carelessly until the starry spots painted away the condemning gazes of his few remaining people. His mind raced through options, none of them good, none of them enough to save them.

"A moment. Hush." The fearful whispers quieted. 

_'Think, think!'_ he thought desperately. Hopelessly. He'd been running on empty for so long, pushing them through each disaster by sheer force of will. They needed to know he could get them past this too, even if he couldn't. But he'd take anything to bluster through for now.

Faint rustling, and the scent of wildflowers reached him.

Then a calloused, familiar hand cupped his face softly, forcing his fists away. And _her_ brow touched to his, resting softly, grounding him. Almost as if to remind him that he did not bear this alone.

"There's always more."

A soft, broken sob forced itself out. Zoya clutched him tighter to her.

"It's okay. You've done so much, Nikolai. You're exhausted too. Let me save us, let me fight!" He felt a warm brush of lips against his brow. "I'm the War General after all. It's my task to finish." 

He opened his eyes. The startling sea blue of her eyes surprised him every time. He held them unwaveringly, anchoring himself to her. What did she see in him? Such faith.

Sometimes the faith of one person was all it took to feel worth something.

He wanted so much to relent, give in to her. Pass on the task. But he shook his head. Not Zoya.

Not her.

He stepped back, forcing Zoya to release him.

"You can't, he is too strong. Listen to me," he pushed on before she could object again. "You will have to face him, as much as I hate the thought, it is inevitable - no one else is his match. But you can't yet. Not like this."

The air around them fizzed and Zoya's raven hair flew in angry waves about her face. "Every moment we delay, more of our people die! If we wait there will be no Ravka left to save!"

"She's right." Nina spoke quietly from where she crouched, her hands firmly pressing her coat down onto Genya's bloody wound. "We can't have won the war against Fjerda only to fall to this. It's now or never."

"Nina, she has not harnessed her powers. She cannot reach Juris either. We'll just fall faster if we lose her now!" He straightened. "I may not have my palace, or much of a land, but I am still King. You are ordered to remain here, General Nazyalensky. Hone your abilities. Then we'll launch a new attack."

She looked back at him sadly for a moment. Then she turned her head and nodded silently at the two soldiers that shadowed her.

"Don't hold this against them Nikolai. Juris did something to them during the war, so they are sworn only to me."

The soldiers surged forwards, capturing his arms to either side of him in a death grip. "No," he breathed.

Zoya spoke to her soldiers directly. "You are not to release the king until tomorrow at sunrise. I'm sure you'll know by then if I've been successful or not." In a louder voice she added. "Anyone who interferes is to meet your blade."

"Yes, General," they chorused.

"Zoya, please, no! Not like this!" He cried desperately. "You saw what he did to the palace, to the villages!" He struggled against his captors, snarling at them as they tightened their grips on him.

"I can do this. I have my secrets too, Nikolai. And if I do fail, well, I will make sure to have at least weakened him before I fall... Plan your counter attack, a good one, and have it ready. In case."

"Don't do this," he pleaded again. She would die. He knew it, and he suspected she did too, but in her own Zoya way, needed to try anyway.

She held his gaze a moment longer, thousands of unsaid words burning in one look, then she turned and swept away. She did not look back as she manoeuvred her way out of the unstable cavern opening, Nina at her heels. His last sight of her was the muddied back of her torn up battle kefta, flying up behind her briefly.

Then she was gone.


End file.
